03.27.08 kulturnatib

Snow-lidarity

The other day the meteo or weather forecast that I avidly listen to while eating breakfast, not only to tell me the weather for the day but also to teach me French for the rest of my stay in French Canada and elsewhere, announced the arrival of spring.

Such announcement would have been greeted with dancing in the streets. But, it only generated what I gathered later as a general wry expression of puzzlement and a you-have-got-to-be-joking incredulity, much the same sentiments I expect that greeted the huge billboards of Bench announcing their Fall line of clothes.

Seriously, had spring really arrived it would have had to be wrapped in three layers of clothing topped by a thick jacket. In fact, two days after that announcement the forecast called for snow, more snow on top of what looks to be more than 4 meters that has fallen since mid-November.

That measure is a mere guesstimate, but what is certain is that this winter's snowfall has already breached the record for snowfall here set in 1971.

Among other things, this has made for a very big white Christmas. In fact, it has been so big that it has been causing problems hardly ever intimated in that all-time favorite Christmas carol that admitted or not has also contributed to the drawing power of snow-bound countries, chief of them, the U.S.

These problems can be huge ones. A decade ago, last January, most of Quebec experienced what is now known as 'La Crise du Verglas,' the big ice storm that hit eastern Canada and mostly Quebec with such force that roofs collapsed, trees were uprooted and, most damagingly, electric pylons were toppled.

It is hard to imagine winter without electricity. It is harder to live it. In some places it took a month before power was restored. But, in many more places, it was the response, the solidarity of the people, families, neighbors and communities that made the province survive that natural catastrophe.

Natural catastrophe met its match in the natural human decency, sympathy and empathy of the Quebecois, the hardy natives – including the original natives, the autochtones – of this mainly French-speaking Canadian province.

Yet, it doesn't need a big natural catastrophe for this Good Samaritan or simple human gesture to manifest itself. Snow and ice can bring about simple, everyday winter emergencies that happen just outside the door of your house, or, the doors of a bus, as happened recently.

Priscilla is a young black girl, taking up some tourism course. She was coming from school. When she stepped off the bus onto what she thought was a puddle of water, she slipped. It was ice. She fell. She tried to stand but her right foot was enveloped in pain.

She struggled to get further away from the curb and the traffic on the corner of Bank Street and Macleod in downtown Ottawa. She was able to stagger a few steps before she fell again. This time the pain made it impossible for her to move any further.

Kim and George, a couple, were walking and getting into the same corner when they saw Priscilla fall the second time. They immediately went to her aid. By the time I got to the same corner, moments later, Kim was comforting Priscilla and talking to 911 on Priscilla's mobile phone.

Seeing that Priscilla was leaning on her one arm, while the other hand was holding on to a metal fencing around a traffic signal pole, I knelt behind her and told her to lean on me so that the pain on her legs was not compounded by the strain on her arms.

A previous experience with an accident last year to a fellow bicyclist not far away from this corner told me that the emergency services would not be very long. But, this time, they were. In the meantime, a police car drove by and stopped. Two officers came over and asked what happened. One immediately got onto his radio, reported the incident and, again, requested for an ambulance.

While waiting, Kim engaged Priscilla in a conversation, encouraging her, telling her, among other things, how brave she was and how she just had to keep on being brave for soon the ambulance would arrive. This had a visible effect on Priscilla even as she continued to grimace in pain.

The ambulance finally arrived. Priscilla was bundled into a gurney, loaded up to be whisked away to the nearest emergency health facility. We waved to her as the paramedic closed the ambulance doors. Through her tears, she smiled weakly.

As I proceeded to cross the street I realized that my right leg pants were soaked through at the knee from kneeling in the snow. It will dry, I thought. What will not or should not, I thought further, was human solidarity.